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Chelsea, though, have no desire to sell and Courtois admits losing the talented forward would be like Barcelona or Real agreeing to part with Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

He told the Evening Standard after seeing Hazard net from the penalty spot in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal: “Losing a player like Eden would be bad for us, the club.

“Eden is irreplaceable. With the money he will raise, you can buy five players but none of them will be like Eden. It would be like Barcelona losing Lionel Messi or Real Madrid losing Cristiano Ronaldo.

“If you excel, there will always be teams interested in signing the biggest players. But that’s why if Chelsea have ambition to be the best club in the world, these kind of players have to stay.”

While Hazard’s future continues to dominate the headlines, Courtois has also been linked with an imminent move to Madrid.